Somewhere along the lines of him treating me like a real person and not his prisoner, I had allowed Lucas into my heart.
I choked back the tears that threatened to well up in my eyes. There was no use crying over it now. It wasn’t like I would be able to change what my heart was feeling.
But the real question was: did I want this?
I thought I did.
I wanted to be Lucas’s sunshine, but in order for that to happen, he had to let me in.
And tonight, he’d given me just a glimpse before slamming that door in my face again.
Chapter 45
Lucas
I pushed open the door to the building, my heart hammering in my chest. I didn’t know why I felt this need to get inside, but something was wrong.
Something was fuckingwrong.
Not bothering to take the elevator, I took the stairs instead, somehow climbing the flights with ease to my penthouse, finding it far too easy to get inside.
Where were my fucking guards?
Where was Leda?
The uncomfortable twist in my chest tightened, and I hurried to push open the stairwell door, finding the normally locked door open.
No.
I raced through the penthouse to my bedroom, where she should have been, but the bed was empty.
“Leda!” I shouted, fear clawing at my throat as I hurried back out into the main room.
The terrace doors were open.
“Leda?” I asked as I approached the doors, stepping outside. The wind whipped at my coat, and the sky was dark with pregnant storm clouds. I knew she preferred to be on the terrace, and some of my anxiety lessened at the thought of it.
She was out there. I was sure of it.
Rounding the corner, my heart calmed in my chest when I saw her standing on the railing. I wasn’t sure how she could be doing that. Her long black nightgown billowed around her body, and when she looked back at me, there was sadness in her eyes.
“What are you doing, Leda?” I reached out my hand. “Come back here.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t be with a monster any longer.”
They were the words I’d been waiting to hear from her mouth, but I had never thought they would hurt so fucking much.
“Please, Leda. Get down and we can talk about this,” I pleaded, taking a step closer to her and trying to figure out how to get her safely back on the ground without killing us both. “Please, don’t do this.”
She let out a sob. “I have to, don’t you see? This is the only way.”
“Leda, please,” I begged desperately. “Don’t. Don’t do this to me.”
“Goodbye, Lucas,” she said, and jumped.
I jolted awake, my heart pounding against my rib cage and a cold sweat covering my body. The dream. It felt far too fucking real.
I knew it was just a dream. Leda’s body was pressed up against mine, her long hair tickling my bare chest as she slept on, unaware of what my mind made me see.